Irina and General Ironwood looked at Atlas. Ironwood, now without the influence of Mettle, was concerned as he watched more and more of the soldiers of Maelstrom arrive to the city

"You are looking quite concerned, General..." replied Irina, walking around the office, casually stopping at the central desk of the office, where Ironwood and her had lots of information and paperwork

"Well...The growing complaints about your people's...unconventional methods has me concerned" he answers back

"Well, I would assume you wouldn't pay attention. That warhead on your main landing bay would be a very good argument against those concerns you mention"

"I...guess" Ironwood replies, untroubled

"So. How about a game of chess to get your mind off those baseless concerns, General?" says Irina

"Chess? You truly are antiquated. Fine"

"Antiquated, yes. But sometimes the classics work better"

Ironwood would arrange a chess board on his desk, while Irina brought a chair

"If you don't mind, Miss Jernhand..." said Ironwood, offering her to play the white pieces

"Oh please. The host should move first"

"I insist..."

"Then I assume I will accept the offer"

White moved a pawn to D4. Black responded with a pawn to D5

Irina stopped for a moment, then white moved another pawn to E4

Ironwood grinned a bit then captured E4. Irina moves her knight to C3, prompting Ironwood to move his knight to F6

Irina would respond by moving another pawn to F3. Ironwood captures F3, but Irina would move her second knight to capture F3

Black responds, moving their bishop to G4. White responds by moving her pawn to H3. Black retreats the bishop to H5, but white would follow by moving another pawn to G4

Black moves the other knight to C6. White moves her bishop to B5

Ironwood scratches his chin a little. Whatever move he does next, he is risking defeat

He finally takes the risk and captures D4 with the queen, only for white to capture D4 again with the knight. Ironwood becomes a bit worried. His...judgement would tell him to capture G4. He captures G4 with the bishop, but then Irina captures G4 with the pawn. Black captures G4 again with the knight, but then white captures C6 with their other knight. Ironwood captures C6 with the pawn, but Irina then captures C6 with the bishop

"Checkmate" says Irina

Ironwood sighs and shakes hands with Irina. Gambit and the rest of the team arrived

"Your Excellence...General"

"Gambit. Harriet. What did you find?"

"Well...Not much on our end. It was fake" said Gambit

"How many casualties?"

"57 civilians" replied Harriet

Ironwood sighs again in regret. The civilian casualties were always high

"Something tells me we aren't looking in the right place" says Crystal

"Shut up" replies Harriet

Then, Selestina would come in, alone

"Ah. Your Excellence. General"

"What are you doing here?"

"Well...So far, I was going to ask for...some access to some of Atlas' resources but..."

Pigmallion then locks the doors from her pad

"You don't have any left" says Selestina

Ironwood looks a bit stranged

"What do you mean? We have all the Dust you could want?"

"What about... the Staff of Creation?" says Selestina

The Ace Ops look at him. Ironwood then realizes everything...but it was too late

Ironwood tries to reach for his revolver but is stopped by Irina, who slammed the chessboard on him, while Gambit and the rest quickly dispatched the Ace Ops with a dagger slice on the throat

"Well. This is...rather disappointing, General" says Crystal as he finishes Harriet off

"What are you doing? Do you work for Salem?!" says Ironwood

"No. We work for the great warrior..." replies Irina

Gambit shoots Ironwood right on the eye

Atlas and Mantle would start to see heavy fighting, as the Reapers began the conquest of the kingdom

"With this...The war now truly begins" says Irina